Friday, February 26, 2016

While Duke Snider will be forever associated with the Brooklyn Dodgers, "Boys of Summer," Snider returned to New York in a homecoming of sorts when he was purchased by the New York Mets in 1963 from the Los Angeles Dodgers. Well past the peak of his career, Snider batted .243 with 14 home runs in 129 games for the Mets who were only in their second year of existence.

“I was excited when they said that trade went through because I was
hitting down in the order by that time and we really didn’t have a
leadoff [hitter],” said McRae speaking Friday evening from Marshall,
Texas where he was coaching the Park University baseball team. “We had
done all of the shuffling in the outfield with [Todd] Hundley playing a
little bit in the outfield after [Mike] Piazza got traded [to the Mets],
so it was good to have him on the ball club.”

“It was like a month and a half ago with Dave Henderson too,” he said, “so I lost two former teammates in a short time.”

Coming up with the Kansas City Royals in 1990, McRae was familiar
with Phillips from playing in the American League. He remembered
Phillips as a hitter that pitchers weren't fond of seeing at the plate.

“You didn’t like him because he was pesky,” he said. “Pitchers
couldn’t bury him and get him out. He fouled off a lot of pitches and
always seemed like he was in the middle of rallies for those good A’s
teams. He just did a lot of things well to help his team win games."

The 39-year-old Phillips brought the same tenacious approach that
McRae described to the Mets, quickly invigorating the clubhouse. There
were a lot of intangible elements to Phillips’ game that didn’t show up
in the box score, but enabled the entire team to elevate their play.

“He was a good on-base guy for all the guys hitting behind him,” he
recalled. “I think our offense got better once he came along. It wasn’t
so much him hitting his way on, but just working the count. He might
have had a low average, but his on-base percentage was pretty high, and
he did a good job running up pitch counts to let everybody else in the
lineup see pitches that the pitcher had. He was really comfortable in
that role as far as taking a lot of pitches, getting deep in the count,
and doing those types of things.”

Spending time with Phillips away from the field gave McRae the
opportunity to gain a deeper perspective on Phillips' approach that
wasn’t apparent from the opposing dugout. He found Phillips to be a real
student of the game who was willing to share the intricacies of the
trade with him.

“I got to know him a lot better than I did in passing from playing
against him,” he said. “We spent a lot of time talking about baseball,
his approach mentally, and how he went about getting prepared for a game
by checking scouting reports of other teams, pitchers, and things that
he picked up.

“He was good with sharing a lot of that knowledge with me; I liked to
sit at his locker [to] listen and learn as much as possible. [He] put a
lot of his heart and soul into what he did on the ball field, and with
him being on those championship teams, you gravitated to those guys
because there’s something special about them. When you’re around guys
who have been a part of something special, you listen to them and try to
learn as much as possible.”

“He brought a different aura to our ball club and he didn’t back down
from anything,” he stated. “I remember we played against the Cardinals
and Matt Morris threw up and in on him. He was jawing at Matt Morris,
and then Tony LaRussa his former manager was yelling at him; he went
right back at LaRussa. He brought a different edge that I think we
needed.”

Tony Phillips, who enjoyed an 18-year career in the major leagues from 1982-1999 primarily with the Oakland Athletics, passed away Wednesday February 17, 2016 as the result of a heart attack according to Susan Slusser. He was 56.

Very sad news: Dave Stewart tells me that Tony Phillips has died of an apparent heart attack at the age of 56.

An extremely versatile fielder, Phillips saw action at every position on the field except pitcher and catcher during his major league career. He amassed 2,023 hits with a .266 average over his 18 seasons with the Athletics, Detroit Tigers, California Angels, Chicago White Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, and New York Mets.

Davenport started in the major leagues with the Giants in
1958, playing primarily third base during his 13-year career, retiring after
the 1970 season. In 1985, he served as manager of the Giants, posting a record
of 56-88 before losing his job to Roger Craig during the last month of the
season.

Jim Davenport Signed 1988 Pacific Legends / Baseball-Almanac.com

Joe Amalfitano, Davenport’s former teammate on the Giants
and close friend, deftly described Davenport’s deep roots with the Giants
organization.

"Jimmy's a pillar of that organization," Amalfitano said to MLB.com in 2014. "If you cut his veins, red wouldn't come out. It
would be orange and black. I truly believe that."

Jester was a standout athlete at Denver’s North High School, where he
played both infield and pitched. So renowned for his accomplishments on
field, Jester was selected for the 1944 Esquire All-American Boys
Baseball Game at the Polo Grounds in New York City. Jester was the
starting pitcher for the West Squad that was managed by Mel Ott. Other
notables who played in that game were Hall of Famer Richie Ashburn, as
well as future major leaguers Erv Palica and Billy Pierce.

Virgil Jester (second from left) at the 1944 Esquire All-American Boys Baseball Game

After attending Colorado State Teacher’s College, Jester was signed by the Braves in 1947 for the princely sum of $2,500. In a 2012 interview with the Denver Post, Jester wished his bonus arrived a half-century later.

"If you look at the salaries today, I was born 55 years too soon," Jester said.

The Braves initially placed Jester not as a pitcher, but as an
infielder, an experiment that was quickly abandoned after he hit .169
during his first season with Class C Leavenworth. It was a move that
paid dividends for both the Braves and Jester, as he posted winning
records each of the next five seasons in the minor leagues, including a
10-5 record at Triple A Milwaukee in 1952 that led to his arrival in the
big leagues.

“I won 10 straight games real quick, after that they called me up,” he said during a 2008 interview from his home in Colorado.

Jester pitched his way to a 3-5 record in 19 games for the Braves for 1952, with his third victory coming against the Brooklyn Dodgers on September 27, 1952.
It was the final victory of the season for the Braves, as their last
game of the 1952 campaign ended in a 12-inning tie against the Dodgers.
Unbeknownst to him, it was also the final victory for the Boston
baseball franchise, as owner Lou Perini moved the team to Milwaukee the
following year.

“I pitched in the last game and beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in the last
game of 1952,” he said. “None of the ballplayers knew anything [about
the move].”

Jester accompanied the team to Milwaukee and made the 1953 club out
of spring training. He pitched sparingly in relief during April and was
sent down to the minor leagues when rosters were trimmed at the end of
the month. His demotion signaled the end of his career as a major
leaguer.

He left the Braves organization after an arm injury in 1954 and
remained out of baseball until 1959 when he was called by an old friend
to help bolster the Denver Bears pitching staff. He gladly accepted.

“I left after the 1954 season and I never did ever hear from the
Braves,” he said. “After that I rejoined the Denver Braves in 1959. I
just kept myself in good shape working out with them in Bears Stadium. …
They were having trouble with their young pitchers they were expecting a
lot of. Bob Howsam called me in and asked me if I wanted to join the
ballclub and I told them, ‘Sure!’ That's how I got back with the 1959
club.”

Jester kept himself involved in athletics working as a college
football and basketball referee, as well as a baseball umpire for over
25 years. He attributed his success as an umpire to his former teammate
and long-time major league manager Gene Mauch.

“I played with Gene Mauch and he was one of the men that I really
followed because he knew the rule book inside out,” he said. “I think he
was the only manager / ballplayer that I ever knew that knew more about
the rule book than the umpires did. I felt like that was the best thing
to learn what to do was to sit down with the rule book and read it. I
umpired with a lot of men that knew the rule book real well, but they
didn't have the guts to really apply it on the field.”

Thursday, February 18, 2016

With pitchers and catchers making their way to spring training camps, it
is official that baseball season has arrived. One of the exciting
rituals of spring training is the release of Topps’ classic baseball cards. Just as teams are formulating their rosters, fans of all ages can follow the newest acquisitions and hottest superstars with Topps’ 2016 Series 1 Baseball set.

Born November 18, 1916 in Atlanta, Moore developed his talents at
Booker T. Washington High School. His exploits in the field and at the
plate attracted the attention of the Chattanooga Choo Choos of the Negro
Southern League in 1935. Word of his play at first base spread through
the league and he was picked up by the famed Newark Eagles of the Negro
National League in 1936. He joined an infield that earned the nickname
of “The Million Dollar Infield,” which included Hall of Famers Willie
Wells at shortstop and Ray Dandridge at third base.

“Wells was one of the greatest shortstops you’d ever want to see,”
Moore said in a 2008 interview. “Dandridge, I can’t see why he didn’t
make it into the majors. … He was one of the best third baseman that
ever played the game.”

Moore was fancied as one of the finest fielding first baseman in the
league, going as far as taking throws behind his back during infield
practice to the delight of the fans. When the Atlanta Black Crackers
joined the Negro American League in 1938, Moore returned to his hometown
to shore up their infield defense. He quickly became a fan favorite,
earning a selection to the Southern News Service’s Negro American
All-Star team.

“He could pick it,” Buck O’Neil noted.
“He was quick around first base and had outstanding hands. He could
handle that low throw in the dirt better than anybody. Nobody had better
hands than Red Moore. Most first basemen back then used two hands, but
Red was a one-hand first baseman. As far as playing first base, nobody
was better. People came to see him play.”

He continued to play in the Negro Leagues through the 1940 season,
finishing his career with the Baltimore Elite Giants where he was a
roommate of a young Roy Campanella for two seasons. Five years older
than Campanella, Moore kept an eye on the catching prodigy.

“At that time he was just a teenager,” Moore said. “He was a nice young fellow, good to be around. He was always telling jokes. He loved baseball—he loved the game."

In 1941, he entered the Army during World War II, serving four years
in England, Belgium, and France. At the completion of his baseball
career, he worked with Colonial Warehouse in Atlanta until his
retirement in 1981. As with many Negro Leaguers of his generation, Moore
received much recognition in his later years.
In 2007, Moore was honored at a ceremony with fellow Newark Eagles
Billy Felder, Monte Irvin, and Willie “Curly” Williams at Newark Bears
stadium in New Jersey. The Topps Baseball Card Company followed suit
quickly by giving Moore an official baseball card in their 2009 Allen and Ginter set.